Living in the dorms comes with its own challenges such as not being able to control the heat. It was challenging during the first week of school with no air conditioning, which meant constantly having multiple fans going to help regulate my body temperature. Another con to living in the dorm, is the size of the room itself, I am used to having more storage in my house to put all my belongings but here I do not have much storage space, and it is shared with my roommate. Living on the third floor of my dorm building also means I must be aware of my neighbors not only around me, but also below me. The closeness of proximity to others applies to them too; the walls are paper thin, so quite often I can hear my neighbors around me. Another disadvantage of my dorm building is that there is no elevator so each time I want to exit or enter, do laundry, or go to the lounge I must make the trek up and down the flights of stairs. Although, this does help me get more steps in for the day.
As much of a struggle it can be to live in a dorm, some days there are also many positives to living in one. I have always had to share my bedroom with at least one of my siblings so naturally I have become good at sharing space with others. Luckily for me I am rooming with one of my best friends from high school and so far, we are still friends. I can honestly say that this time we have only strengthened our friendship because we are constantly around each other. Not only did I become closer with my roommate, but I have met a lot of friends within my building, and one of them I just learned is in our writing class but did not know that she also lives in the same dorm building. Another advantage of the dorms here at UW-Green Bay is the private bathrooms. It has been extremely nice not to have to go down the hall or go to a different level just to get to it. Living in a dorm also gives me a chance to decorate a room with all my things from home to make it feel cozier. I love to decorate so it was fun to go shopping and put-up new decorations in the dorm. Overall, I am enjoying the dorm experience more than I thought that I would and am excited to see what twists and turns come with it throughout the rest of the year.
I also agree that the temperature situation was not great the first week of living in the dorms when it was 90 degrees outside.